Last week, Shift reported on Seattle billionaire, Democrat financier and far-left activist Nick Hanauer’s threat to state lawmakers. Upset with Republicans in the state Senate for acting as a roadblock for the statewide $12 minimum wage bill, Hanauer told the Seattle Times that if the Legislature doesn’t pass the bill, he would go to the ballot with “a statewide $16-an-hour minimum-wage initiative in 2016.” The initiative, which he calls “$16 in ‘16” is something Hanauer say he is “dead serious” about doing.
Hanuaer is—to put to it in perspective—blackmailing state legislators.
Of course, in all likelihood, Hanuaer will move forward with his “$16 in ‘16” plans whether or not the Legislature passes the $12 minimum wage bill. He has already taken steps to follow through with his threat. As Shift pointed out, Hanauer has already assembled a team of far-left activists. His team includes an assortment of the usual suspects (union executives and writers from The Stranger).
Hanauer’s blackmailing campaign did not end with his initial threat last week. The far-left, narcissistic billionaire attempted to, once again, use intimidation tactics to get his way this week. Hanauer told King 5 News that “no is not an option” for state lawmakers. He said, “They can kill the bill and (think) the issue will go away. My view of that is that it’s just a fantasy.”
Hanauer—seemingly relishing in some sort of game—went on to make light of the prospect of burdening businesses across the state with a $16 minimum wage. He said, “$16 in 16′ is a bumper sticker, is a slogan, a way of capturing our view.”
Hanauer blackmailing state lawmakers is, simply put, outrageous and inappropriate. As a reminder, this is what Hanauer said:
“They think $12 is high? Here’s the real choice: they can accept $12 now or it’ll be much, much higher. If you’re the Association of Washington Business, you should run, not walk, to Olympia and demand they pass that $12 wage bill.”
Hanuaer making light of a implementing a statewide $16 minimum wage is expected. After all, this is the man who once attempted to position himself as a market dictator at the expense of the middle class. He consistently demonstrates complete ignorance of working families’ daily lives, admitting his contempt for small business owners running local franchises.
Hanuaer demanding the implementation of a $16 minimum wage immediately is, on the other hand, ideologically consistent at the very least. Here’s what talk radio’s David Boze had to say on the subject:
“I have to say, if you follow through the logic of most of these kinds of debates, Hanauer has a point. After all, most of the time the logic used to increase minimum wage is simply that increasing the wages would allow people to buy more, it wouldn’t hurt anybody, it would improve the lives of families, it would enable people to pay their bills and buy more products. It would probably lead to even more job creation because the person who is making $12 an hour is more likely to be able to afford coffee or whatever else that they couldn’t afford before. So why bother waiting?
“The argument, boiled down, is some people need to plan. If people were being exploited before and the profits are so big, than surely those profits are built-in somehow. So there’s no reason why anyone should oppose that increase in wage.
“Well, you and I both know that’s not true. People plan well in advance for the amount of capital they need to be able to pay people, what the price of the products are going to be, and, not to mention, the fact that if you raise it to $16 an hour, that means your payroll taxes and the benefit packages will be dramatically higher.
“When you think about the way the argument is made – that $12 an hour needs to be passed so people are able to live better – if it’s just that, if that’s the truth, and there’s no negative economic impact to increasing the wage to $12 an hour, why wouldn’t you go to $16 an hour in 2016?
“If there really isn’t this potential for bad consequences for people of low skill who will be shut out of a job at a rate of $0 an hour – if that’s not your problem, then explain why it is that you have to wait so long?”
Hanauer, from his skyscraper in Seattle, is attempting to dictate state law by blackmail. Fortunately, Republicans in the state Senate will not comply with his demands. In turn, as an ideologically consistent extortionist, we can only assume Hanauer will follow through on his threat. You can expect those “16 by ‘16” bumper stickers to start popping up.
